Anna Todd once again didn’t disappoint- she makes you feel for every character and every twist and turn is believable and complex.

Thoroughly recommend this book!

I was excited when Anna Todd announced her new series, but after reading it I was underwhelm. This book follows Karina and her desire to "heal" Kael who happens to be a solider. It is definitely a slow burn romance novel. I found it difficult to maintain interest and kept picking it up between other books but never reaching for it otherwise. Hopefully the next book will be more interesting but otherwise I'm not sure I'll read the rest of this series.

This is the 1st book in a new series, The Brightest Star Series. Karina is proud of the life she has built.in Ft. Benning, GA. She's the daughter of an Officer. She puts other people 1st in her life. She's proud of the way that she puts broken things back together. Can she find a future with Kael, a soldier that she meets?

Even though there wasn't much of a plot within this story, I am invested to know what will happening next. This was my first Anna Todd book and I enjoyed this one. I flew through this book and enjoyed the short chapters. I felt that this was a very slow burn in a okay kind of way. (It wasn't bad or great). The two main characters Karina and Kael were ok. I just wish that there was more personal growth and more within the relationship. Hopefully, we will get that in the next book. Cannot wait to see what happens next.





Thank you NetGalley and Frayed Pages x Wattpad Books for this ebook for an honest review.

This one was hard to get into for me. I had a hard time keeping up with the flow of the book. I wasn't a fan of the characters and I kept waiting for it to pick up and felt a little disappointed at the end. I really reallyyyyy wanted to love this one! But I felt it was a little bit colorless for me.

I was so excited to try Anna Todd's newest romance book, and went in not really knowing what to expect! This series is a military-ish romance, following Karina and Kael. While it was a pretty good read, it wasn't as amazing as I was hoping it would be. The pace was quite slow and I wasn't in love with the romance. It didn't seem to drive the book like I thought it would, if that makes sense.

Karina as a character was good, I liked that she was doing her best to live independently and worked hard to get where she wanted to be. Kael was stoic and silent. Definitely a man of few words and emotions, but it's intriguing to see what makes him crack that hard exterior. Separately, these were decent characters but together... I just didn't feel that spark! I wanted more - more chemistry, more tension, more angst. I suppose we'll see where things go in the next book - I just hope there's more to root for you know?

Unfortunately, I feel like not a whole lot happened plot wise. It felt like alot of the same conversations, same inner monologues, and so on. A lot about Karina's work schedule, alot about her house and the many things that need to be fixed in it, a lot about Tuesday dinners that she dreads lol... just much of the same being repeated.

Overall, I think there was just enough that I will read the second book to see what happens, but my fingers are crossed that it ends up being more along the lines of what I expect from an Anna Todd book.

I wanted to like this one because I devoured the “After” series. I went into it knowing it was a teenybopper type romance so I had low expectations but still….it was so lackluster. I felt kind of let down.
Karina is trying to create for herself in Fort Benning, Georgia. She is an officer’s daughter, who prides herself on being independent. She meets Kael, develops a crush and that pretty much sums it up. The characters aren’t particularly interesting and I kept waiting for something to grab my interest but it never happened. I am so sorry. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for a review.

I expected that same angst and undeniable chemistry that I felt while reading the After series, but I didn't feel a whole lot of anything while reading this.

I loved Anna Todds Book series After so I had really high hopes for this one.

I don't know if it was that I had too much expectation on this one but I wasn't a fan of this one which is a pity.

Me not feeling the book could also be that it was the wrong time for me reading it since I am a mood reader.

I hope there are others out there who will likes this one but for now I am not pne of them.

Loved it! Her books are emotional roller coasters and her and Colleen Hoover are fast becoming my favorite go to authors!

The Falling is an extremely slow burn, almost a little too painfully slow. I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did, but will I read the sequel? Most probably. The miscommunication trope is strong in this one and some pages I found it frustrating, while other pages I found it to be a little endearing as I could see myself doing the same thing. Karina and Kael have a far less toxic relationship than other characters Anna Todd has written, but at the same time I wanted more fire from the both of them. I understand this started as a very short novel originally titled The Brightest Stars, and I feel as though now that it is going to be a potential series, this may just be the build up to the next book. It just left me wanting more than some broken hearts at the end. (This is not a spoiler; you find this out at the very beginning of the book).
Thank you to Netgalley and Wattpad Books for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Falling by Anna Todd is the first book of the Brightest Stars series. For those who have read other books by Anna Todd such as the After series, do not go into this book with the same expectations. Karina and Kael's story is unlike anything Anna has written, so take a chance on it. This book gives slow burn it's true definition as Karina and Kael dance around eachother. Overall, good read and interested in seeing where this series will go.

It felt like a extremely cliché wattpad book coming to life. I really couldn't get in it. The writing and story was not as interesting as the synopsis made it out to be.

I did not care for this book at all. It was mundane and boring to be quite honest. And I doubt I'll continue with the series.

Since this book was originally written in 2018 and per the author's notes, she rewrote and added to it re-releasing it to be the first of, I believe, a 3 book series, I was expecting more from this book. I loved the After series, toxicity and all, so I am extremely disappointed to discover how terrible this book is.

Honestly not much happened throughout this book. I felt the inner monologue was trivial. We are however left with a cliffhanger that I'm not going to lie did make me want to see how this story goes. This book also started out interesting with the foreshadowing of Karina traveling for a funeral. Whose funeral is it?? I am curious to know that part as well. But I am reminding myself the journey to that cliffhanger and the mystery she teased us with at the beginning is likely not worth wasting any more of my time. Maybe if I see the sequel gets better reviews I'll pick it up, but for now I'm hanging this one up and moving on.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Arc



I’d like to preface this by saying that this book has somehow managed to encapsulate all my least favourite tropes in one book. Second chance is just not for me and with a military man couldn’t have started much worse for me. However, I was willing to give this a go as I thoroughly enjoyed the After series, as did many others so appreciate there is a lot to live up to (Which I can only imagine is very intimidating as an author). I do think that this book has room to appeal to a lot of people, but I also don’t think that it has done anything revolutionary or interesting enough to make it anyone’s new favourite.

The Characters did not spark any real interest in me individual or as a couple. While they’re not a ‘toxic’ as Tessa and Hardin I also wouldn’t call the relationship unproblematic, and I just feel there is a lot of miscommunication and neediness . I think Kael is an interesting character with his broody nature and I related to his frustrations with Karina. I appreciate that she is dealing with a lot of her own trauma and trying to get her life together, but I also didn’t ever connect with this side of her and found a lot of this to be quite tedious. We also have a lot of side characters which I’m sure will become more integrated into the story with no doubt some unexpected things to come. I am interested to see where things go as we’ve ended on a cliff-hanger, but I can’t say that I will be rushing to read the rest of the series and I honestly think that I will have forgotten everything in any detail by the time I get to book 2.

I don’t want to continue saying negative things about this book because overall I don’t think it was bad, the pacing was fine, and the very short chapters always help to speed through which I really love. At least the characters have backstories and are more complex than you’d initially expect and as I said I think the military themes of this would be refreshing for a lot of people as it’s not something you often find. I appreciate the exploration of how this has affected them and at times found it emotional but It just wasn’t for me. Overall I don’t think I will forget having read it and I have a feeling this book will probably grow on me more over time.

Highly emotional, couldn't put this one down!

Whoa, what a book! Although this is technically a remake of an older book with added components to the story; this is the first time I'm reading it and I couldn't put it down. The complexity of the characters, every last one of them left me reeling! I was sucked in to the story and I felt every single word! Kael and Karina had such incredible chemistry; but this was a slow burn romance that you can imagine had me burning up towards the end of the book!! If you've read Anna Todd before, you know her characters are complex and this was no different! I'm still trying to decipher if Kael is a good guy and the one you want to see Karina ultimately end up with. I can't figure out her twin brother Austin, there are definitely secrets there!
I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy!

This was my first book by this author so I was excited to dive in. Karina is a massage therapist working near an Army base. She lives with a co-worker, Elodie, who has become a good friend and is also an Army spouse and expecting her first baby. Karina's family life is complicated and she tries to keep to herself aside from supporting her friend and brother, who seems to give a whole new meaning to the word trouble. Kael arrives back early from deployment and ends up staying briefly at Karina's house as he worked with Elodie's husband. Karina and Kael form a friendship of sorts, though they also butt heads at times, but their evolving friendship is the focus of most of the book.

I liked that Karina was hard-working and independent. I liked how she wanted to help her friend, her brother and Kael and how caring she was. Kael was quiet and there was a lot of mystery to his character, his time in the military and his family throughout the course of the book. There was an air of suspense I think to this whole book in that I couldn't ever really quite tell what was going on or where things were going to lead, and it was clear that there were a lot of secrets being kept. Having said that, I think the story was somewhat slow and I often found myself skimming and was able to do that and still not miss anything overly important. I think this is in part because the book, or the author's writing style is extremely wordy. I feel like so much was said but not much happened, and maybe I struggle with this type of writing style.

I do feel like I was invested in Kael and Karina but there was a lot of other things happening that maybe took away from that at times, but also nothing seemed to really move them forward until much further in the story. I did really enjoy the book towards the end, but it is not a standalone.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Falling is a romance that captivates you in the first few chapters. Anna Todd continues to give readers complex characters that you can't help but want to know more about.this is a must read thank you to the author i have always loved her books

Hmmm. I went into this with literally zero expectations, and yet somehow I'm walking away feeling disappointed.

And the only thing I keep coming back to is how every aspect of this book is mundane. The plot is pretty non-existent. There's no driving force for the characters. Usually this isn't a problem for a romance story because the romance itself is that driving force and it's supported by other entertaining things. But these characters have no personalities, hardly any connection, and such boring lives that I found myself not caring. I just kept waiting for something interesting to happen and it never did.

Which is a shame because the prologue alludes to some tragic moment. So you go in knowing right from the beginning that something has happened to these two characters to make their relationship what it is, and you want to know what happened in their history to cause that. Well, it for sure doesn't happen in this book. It's never addressed and the book ends like in the middle of a scene? It's very abrupt and bizarre. Makes me feel like the editing could have been done better.

So even though the prologue had me interested and I still would like to know what happened to these two characters, nothing played out far enough/gave me enough answers in this first book to get me invested and make me want to pick up the next one, unfortunately.

The Falling is the very definition of slow-burn. Anna Todd takes us on a very intricate journey with Karina and Kael and their delicate dance around one another. The massage therapist and the stoic soldier form an odd kind of friendship full of doubt and insecurity. Both are young and about to turn 21 and many times I had to remind myself just how youthful they were. It's interesting because Karina shows her self-doubt almost daily. While Kael truly keeps most of his inner thoughts very close to the vest and acts mature beyond his years. This, of course, makes Karina question her thoughts about him with each new encounter and whether or not there is a spark there or not. And I found myself wondering if anything would truly blossom between them or not since the trite way they communicated frustrated Karina beyond belief. But as the pages kept flowing, I then realized that I not only enjoyed this torturous reading experience but craved even more as the ending was upon me.

I will say that there were times when I was ready to throw in the towel and just chalk this book up to one that just wasn't for me. But Kael and Karina got under my skin in a very subtle kind of way and I was almost desperate to get these two together no matter what. Todd takes her time in fleshing out what they could be to one another, Karina trying her hardest not to pry to find out more about the sexy Kael and continually wondering if there could be a future for them.

Karina's twin brother Austin plays a huge part in defining his sister's role in life, a continual reminder that she was always the one left behind and had to take on the job of being the responsible one. Their father as the lifelong soldier is harsh and I hated the way he treated his daughter. With Fort Benning, GA as their backdrop, the way the story unfolds shows Karina just how intertwined her life had become with not only her brother and his friends but her roommate Elodie as well. Giving her more ammunition to want to stay hidden in the safety of her room.

I felt for Karina and how stagnant at times her life felt. She needed that mild explosion to her heart when Kael first arrives on the scene and how it sets the stage for what is to come. They really do get close in the short time they can be together despite the fact that secrets are revealed to put her on unsteady ground once again. She's an old kind of soul who still has the heart of a youngster.

As The Falling came to a close, we are left with quite the revelation that is sure to turn Karina's world upside down. Of course, it's just as she seemed to be finding a way to keep Kael in her life no matter where they may end up going forward. I will admit I didn't know this was going to be a trilogy so when the rhythm started to feel really good for me, everything came to an abrupt halt and I was a bit frustrated that I now had to wait for more. But I'm still very intrigued with what will happen especially with the prologue that took place in the present and this entire storyline was told in the past.

I'm sure Karina and Kael and the rest of the secondary characters will continue to have quite the bumpy ride as hearts will undoubtedly get bruised over and over again as they all search for some semblance of peace and happiness in their dubious lives.

4 solid stars.